Gramophone



(No Model.)

E. BERLINER.

GRAMOPHONE.

No. 372,786. Patented Nov. 8, 1887.

Attorney v UNITED STATES PATEN OrrIcE.

EMILE warmer; wasnmeiron, nisrmc'r or. connnsm.

csa nop enesrncmcs'rron rennin: warm... Patent No.s72.7s6.dated1ovempe:a, ins-r.

Original application nn'a-m 4,1as1, sum as;

Ibald whom it may concern. I

Beit known that I, EmLsBnBLmnn, acitizen of the United'States, residingat Washattempted to cause a stylus attached to a vi-.-

sPOken words,j and'. is designed to overcomethe defects inherent in thatart as now practiced and in the apparatus-used therefor.

'Bythe ordinary method of recording spoken words or other sounds for rereduction it is bratory diaphragm toiudent'a travelingsheet of tin-foilor other like substance to a depth varyingin accordance with.the-amplitudes of the sound-waves to be recorded. ,This attempt isnecessarily more or less ineli'ective, for the reason that the force ofi a diaphragm vibrat- ,ing under the impact of sound-waves is very weak,and that in the act of overcoming the resistance of the tin-foil orother material the vibrations of the diaphragm are notonly weakcued, butare also modified. Thus while the record contains as many undulations asthe sounds which produce it, and in the same orderof succession, thecharacter of the recorded uudulaticusismore or less difierent from those.of the-sounds uttered against the diaphragm.

There'is, then, a true record of the pitch, but a distorted record ofthe quality of the sounds obtained. The simple statement that,thematerialupon-which the record is made resists the movement of thediaphragm is not sufiicient to explain theilisto'rtion of thecharacterotf'the undulations, for if that resistance were uniform, or evenproportional to the displacement of the-stylus, the record would'besimply -weakened,.bnt not distorted; but it is a fact that theresistance of any material to indenta- .tion increases fasterthan thedept-h of indenta- 011,80 that a vibration of greateramplitude of thestylus meets with 'a disproportionately greater resistance than avibration of'smaller amplitude. For this" reason loud sounds are evenless aceuratel y recorded than faint sounds, and the individual voiee'ofa loud speaker recorded and then reproduced by the: phonograph cannotbefrecognized. With a vie'wof and this application tiled September 26.1883'. L tN omodolJ are still present.

seen 'No. 250,121.

overcoming this defectt has been attempted to engrave .instead of indenta record of the vibrations .of the diaphragm by employinga stylus shapedand operating like a chisel upon a suitablyprepared surface; but even inthis case the disturbing causes above referred to apparatus of thephonograph or graphophone In addition to this, if in the type it isattempted to avoid the disturbing influence of the increase ofresistance of the record-surface with the depth of indentation or cut asmuch-as possible by-primarily adjusting the stylus so .as to touch therecordsurface-only lightly, then anotherdisturbing influenee is broughtinto existence by the fact thatwithsuchadjustment,whenthediaphrngm movesoutwardly, the stylus will leave the .record-surface entirely, so thatpart .of each vibration will not be recorded at all. This is moreparticularly the casewhen loud sounds are recorded, and'it manifestsitself in the re production, which then yields quiteuninteh ligibiesounds.

It is the object of my invention to overcome these difficulties byrecording spokfen vords orother sounds without perceptible frictionbetween the recording-surface and the recording-stylus, and bymaintaining the unavoid' able friction uniform for all vibrations of thediaphragm. The record thus obtained, almost frictionless, I copy in asolidresisting mate.-

.rial, by any of the methods hereinatter described, and I employ suchcopy of the original record for the reproduction of the recorded sounds.

Instead'of moving the recording-stylus at rightangles to and against therecord-surface, I cause the same to move under the influence ofsound-waves parallel with and bare] y in contact with such surface,which latter is covered with a layer of any material that ofi'eis aminimum resistance to the act-ion of a stylus operating to displace thesame, all substantially in the manner of the well-known phonautograph byLeon Scott. All this will more fully appear from the following detaileddescription, inwhich reference is made to the accompanying diawings,whichillustiate one of the numerous formswhich my improved apparatus mayassume, and in which Figure l'is a perspective view of my recording andreproducing apparatus; Fig. 2,'a like view of the recording andreproducing diaphragm with its stylus; Fig. 3, a similar view of aportion of the support for the record-suit face; Fig. 4, thesame viewwith the recordsurface applied; Fig. 5, a plan view of a phonautographicrecord; Fig. 6, a perspective of a phonautographio record copied insolid resisting material; and Fig. 7, the copied record mounted, readyfor application to the support.

The general arrangement of the parts is best illustrated in Fig. 1, inwhich a Tshaped basegate, A, is shown, upon which two standards,

' cured to the side walls of the box K. This layer of elastic materialis designed to serve as the support for the record-surface both inrecording and reproducing.

For recordingI employ a thin strip of paper, parchment, metal, or anyother suitable substance, which is secured at both endsto bars 0 d,inthe manner shown in Fig 7,..with reference to acopy of a record, andis then placed upon the elastic support f, with the bars 0 d enteringinto but projecting atboth ends beyond the box K, as illustrated inFigs. 1 and 4, with reference toan engraved copy of a' record. Bolts q,passing through the projecting ends of bars o d, are employed to drawthe record-strip tightly about the drum, and the length of the strip issuch that the ends of the same meet as nearly as practicable upon astraight line, z. The record-sheet is then prepared to receive therecord by covering its surface with a thin layer of any substance whichis easily rcmovedby' the action of the recording-stylus. I may uselamp-black, which is deposited by placing a smoky flame under'therecord-strip and by slowly turning the drum until all parts of the stripare covered with'the deposit. It is well known thatalayer of lampblackthus deposited, while it adheres well to the surface of. a solid body,is nevertheless easily removed from thcsame. It requires only anexceedingly small force to draw aplainlyvisible line upon such surface,owing to the fact that the spicules of carbon of which lampblack iscomposed are only loosely superimposed upon each other, and areexceedingly light. All this haslong since been recognized and utilizedin the production of phonautographic records," and I take advantage ofthese facts in my improved method ofrecording and reproducing sounds.

The'diaphragm m is mounted in a frame, n, with its plane-at right anglesto the axis of drum G. A post, 0, is fixed to the center of thediaphragm, and a slot in said post receives one end of stylus S, whichis pivoted in the post by a pin, it. The stylus extends over and beyondthe frame, with its free end barely in contact with the recordsurface,and is also piv.-; otally supported in .a slotin a post, p, secured.

to the frame by means of a pin, it, as shown in Figs. '1 and 2. It willnow be seen that the stylus is in effect a lever having its fulcrum inthe pin it, and that its free end can only move in lines practicallyparallel to the record-surface: If it is 'now desired to produce arecord rotated by means of crank L, or by any other suitable means,'andsound's. are uttered or di-.

tion the stylus only penetrates a uniform layer 7 of loosely-heapedcarbon spicules and barely touches the record-surface, it is clear thatthe slight friction at the free end of the stylus will be uniform,whatever he the amplitude of vibration. Consequently the vibrations ofthe diaphragm will not be modified or changed by the reaction upon thesame of a sensible and varying resistance, as is the casein all othermechanical sound-recorders.

Having thus obtained an accurate phonautographic record, the same maybefixed by applying a thin solution of varnish of any kind which driesvery rapidly and which does not obliterate or change the record.

If in this process the deposit of lamp-black be made thick enough, theline drawn by the stylus would represent a groove of even depth,preserving all the characteristics of the'sounds which produced itandwhich may be handled and touched with impunity. The latter is thenremoved from the drum and may bepreserved any length of time withoutdanger of its being disfigured. This record I then copy in solidresisting material, preferably metal, either by the purely mechanicalprocess of engraving. or by chemical deposition, or by photo-engraving.I prefer thelast-named process, which enables me to produce the mostaccurate copy of the original record in copper, nickel, or any othermetal without in any way or manner affecting the original record. The

copy thus obtained, which may be multiplied to any desired extent, is agrooved wave-line upon a strip or sheet of copper or other metal,asshown in Figs. 1, 4, 6, and 7, and 'for the reproduction of therecorded sounds it has the advantage over -the ordinary records intinfoil, wax, -&c.,- that it is not sensibly attacked by the reproducingstylus, and will stand an indefinite number of reproductions without theslightest variation in the accuracy and loudness of the reproducedsounds.

The copied record is fixed at both ends to the bars 0 d, as shown inFig. 7, and is placed "of sounds the drum is slowly and uniformly uponthe elastic support f" upon the drurn'in the same manner as has beendescribed with ',reference to the original record-strip, and as 18illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4. Gare-must be takenthat the "two ends ofthe undulatory groovesy meet exactly, as will .be readily understood.This condition of the apparatus is shownin Fig. 1 with the engravenrecord uponvthe drum and the free end of the stylus entering theundulatory groove. If, now, the drum is rotated with uniform speed, theend of thestylns will be forced "to --follow"the-. undulations of thegroove 3 and-the diaphragm will be vibrated positively in bothdirections in strict accordance therewith, and will therefore reproducethe exact sounds which originally produced the record. Thispeenliarityof positive vibratory movement in both direct1 o n s of the diaphragm isa feature which also distinguishes my method and any appriratus 110m.others heretofore used. 1

In. the'tphonograph and graphophcnc the .end of the reproducing-styluswhiohlbears .-upon the indented or engraved record has a vertical upwardand downward movement.

it is forced upwardly in a positive manner-by riding over the elevatedportion of the record, but its downward movement is effected solelyby'theelastic forceof the diaphragm, which latter 'is-- always undertension. In my improvedapparatus'the stylus travels in a groove of evendepth and is moved positively in both d rections. It does notdejpendupon the clastiolty of the diaphragm for its movement in 5 onedirection. This I consider to be an adyantage sinoe bythis method thewhole movement of the diaphragm is positivelycontrolled by the record,and is not aliected or modified lay-the physical conditions of thediaphragm, 4o "whichconditions necessarily' vary from time to time andconstitute some of the causes of imperfect re roduetion of recordedsounds.

In practit ng my. method of recording and; prodnoing-sonnds Iam notlimited to the use 5 of the identical appnratus'herein shown anddescribed; -This apparatus may be varied indefinitely without seriouslyimpairing itsutility-for the purposes in view. Thus it is not absolutelynecessary that a.diaphragm should be used "for receiving the impact ofsound--. waves inrecor'ding and for remitting sounds in reproducing.'Any sonorous body of whatever shape andmaterial maybe used in lieu of:a diaphragm-proper. The recording-sub face need n'bt'be mounted upon adrum',but

,finaybesu-pporind in any suitable manner upon a "support ofany'description which is adapted original record, substantially asdescribed.

to move the s'ameunder the stylus evenlyand with approximately uniformspeed.- Nor do I confine myself to the use of lamp-black as a -63substratum for the phonantographic record, although I have found thissubstance to yield excellent results. Any other substance which adhereswell to the support and may at the minimum force may be employed.

WhileI have found the process of photoengraving to yield admirablecopies of the same time be removed from the same with a 6fphonantographic record, I do not mean to confine myself to this processto the exclusion of other processes for copying and multiplying theoriginal record in solid resisting material;

and it will be readily understood that the details of construction of myapparatus and the manipulations of the same may be greatly changedwithout departing from the fundamental idea of my invention.

Ido not herein claim the apparatus shown anddescribed, eithergenerically or specificall'y,asa whole or in part, since the same formsthe subject of another application for patent previouslyfiledby me andof which this is a division.

-What Ido claim, and desire to-secure by Letters Patent, is 4 -1. Themethod or process of recording and reproducing spoken words and othersounds, which consists-in first drawing an undulato'ryline of evendepthi-n a traveling layerot' non: resisting material by and inaccordance with sound-vibrations, then producing the record I thusobtained in solid resisting material, and finally imparting vibrationsto a sonorons body by and in accordance with the resisting reoord,substantially as described.

2. The method or process of. reproducing sounds recordedphonantographically, which consists in copying the phonautogxaphicrecord in solid resisting, material, and then imparting vibrations to asonorous body by and in aceordancewith the copy of the orignalrebord,substantially as described. I

3. The method or process of reproducing sounds recordedphonautographically, which consists in copying the'phonantographie'record in solid resisting material by the process of photo-engraving,and then imparting positive to-aud-t'ro movements to a sonorous body byand in accordance with the copy of the In testimony whereof I havesigned my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

j EMILE BERLINEB, Witnesses:

JUL US SOLGER,

Jsoon G Co en.

